Simcha grew up in a New Jersey suburb and
received a secular education at his local high school. Growing up,
Simcha was involved with every type of music that he could find, from
classical, to rock, to jazz, and even electronic. Playing over a dozen
instruments during his high school career and recording and composing
music on his small home studio, Simcha was sure that he was headed for
the music scene. After graduating high school, the next stop was
University of Miami in Florida for a degree in music recording. While
in Miami, Simcha decided to go straight to work instead and headed back
to NYC. After an internship at one NYC studio, Simcha landed a job
doing music and sound effects for film and video.
One night at a jam session, Simcha got
involved in a late-night talk (which was his other favorite hobby)
about what life is about, the nature of people, and the other things
that people think about at three in the morning. It was during this
conversation that Simcha heard about the Tanya, the basis for all
Chabad Chasidic philosophy. Captivated by the concepts that he heard,
he slowly began to (apprehensively) investigate the Torah and a whole
world of Judaism that he had never heard of, which was much different
then the limited Jewish upbringing that he had.
Fast forward to a few months later, and Simcha
was living in Florida, freelancing audio jobs part time, and reading
everything that he could get his hands on about Torah. He started
keeping Shabbat and the kosher dietary laws, along with several other
mitzvot. All this finally led him to enroll in The Rabbinical College
of America in Morristown, NJ, which has a program for college-age
Jewish students with little or no background at all to learn about the
Torah from the original ancient texts. It was here that Simcha first
became introduced to Chasidic music that later became the inspiration
for his debut album "Wellsprings".
After several years of intensive study, Simcha
decided to return to his musical roots through the lens of Torah and
the new perspective he had as a practicing Chasidic Jew. He began to
set the "nigunim" (Chasidic tunes) that he had heard during prayer,
contemplation, and gatherings to music, drawing from his past
influences to create a sound that blends the old with the new. The
result was a unique style of acoustic rock mixed with a Chasidic flavor
that sets Simcha's sound apart from the usual Chasidic music. Keeping
with the teaching of Chasidic philosophy that one must infuse all one's
physical actions with a higher purpose, Simcha tries to bring down true
Torah spirituality into simple music that people can relate to.